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Encyclopedia > False negative

In statistics, a false negative, also called a Type II error or miss, exists when a test incorrectly reports that a result was not detected, when it was really present. (Alternatively, a Type 2 error can be thought of as a failure by accepting the alternative hypothesis when the null hypothesis was truly false.) A graph of a bell curve in a normal distribution showing statistics used in educational assessment, comparing various grading methods. ... In statistics, the Alternative Hypothesis is the hypothesis proposed to explain a statistically significant difference between results, that is if the Null Hypothesis has been rejected. ... In statistics, a null hypothesis is a hypothesis set up to be nullified or refuted in order to support an alternative hypothesis. ...


Detection algorithms of all kinds often create misses. For example, if a radar does not detect an enemy air plane when an enemy air plane is present within the radar scanned area, that is a false negative.

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False negative rate

The false negative rate is the proportion of positive instances that were erroneously reported as negative. It is equal to 1 minus the sensitivity of the test. The sensitivity of a binary classification test or algorithm, such as a blood test to determine if a person has a certain disease, or an automated system to detect faulty products in a factory, is a parameter that expresses something about the tests performance. ...

{rm false negative rate} = frac{rm number of false negatives}{rm number of positives}

In statistical hypothesis testing, this fraction is given the symbol β, and 1 − β is defined as the power of the test. Increasing the sensitivity of the test lowers the probability of Type II errors, but raises the probability of Type I errors (false positives that reject the null hypothesis when it is true). One may be faced with the problem of making a definite decision with respect to an uncertain hypothesis which is known only through its observable consequences. ... Beta (upper case Î’, lower case β) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. ... The power of a statistical test is the probability that the test will reject a false null hypothesis, or in other words that it will not make a Type II error. ... The sensitivity of a binary classification test or algorithm, such as a blood test to determine if a person has a certain disease, or an automated system to detect faulty products in a factory, is a parameter that expresses something about the tests performance. ... A false positive, also called false alarm, exists when a test reports, incorrectly, that it has found a signal where none exists in reality. ...


When developing detection algorithms or tests, a balance must be chosen between risks of false negatives and false positives. Usually there is a threshold of how close a match to a given sample must be achieved before the algorithm reports a match. The higher this threshold, the more false negatives and the fewer false positives. Look up Threshold in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In general, a threshold is a fixed location or value where an abrupt change is observed. ...


Medical testing

False negatives are a significant issue in medical testing. In some cases, there are two or more (often many) tests that could be used, one of which is simpler and less expensive, but less accurate, than the other. For example, the simplest tests for HIV and hepatitis in blood have a significant rate of false positives. These tests are used to screen out possible blood donors, but more expensive and more precise tests are used in medical practice, to determine whether a person is actually infected with these diseases. A medical test is any kind of diagnostic procedure performed for health reasons. ... Human immunodeficiency virus, commonly known by the initialism HIV, formerly known as HTLV-III and lymphadenopathy-associated virus, is a retrovirus that primarily infects vital components of the human immune system such as CD4+ T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells. ... Hepatitis is a gastroenterological disease, featuring inflammation of the liver. ... A false positive, also called false alarm, exists when a test reports, incorrectly, that it has found a signal where none exists in reality. ...


False negatives in medical testing provide false reassurance, to both patients and physicians, that patients are free of a disease which is actually present. This may lead to inappropriate or inadequate treatment of the patient. A common example is relying on cardiac stress tests to detect coronary atherosclerosis, even though cardiac stress tests are known to only detect limitations of coronary artery blood flow due to advanced stenosis. A medical test is any kind of diagnostic procedure performed for health reasons. ... A cardiac stress test is a medical test performed to evaluate relative arterial blood flow increases to the left ventricular heart muscle during exercise, as compared to resting blood flow rates (i. ... A cardiac stress test is a medical test performed to evaluate relative arterial blood flow increases to the left ventricular heart muscle during exercise, as compared to resting blood flow rates (i. ... The coronary circulation consists of the blood vessels that supply blood to, and remove blood from, the heart. ... A stenosis is an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure. ...


False negatives produce serious and counterintuitive problems, especially when the condition being searched for is common. If a test with a false negative rate of only 10%, is used to test a population with a true occurrence rate of 70%, many of the "negatives" detected by the test will be falsely incorrect. (See Bayes' theorem below.)


Biometrics

False negatives are also a problem in biometric scans, such as retina scans or facial recognition, when the scanner incorrectly identifies someone as not matching a known person, when in actuality, it is the same person whose scan was in the system. At Disney World, biometric measurements are taken of the fingers of multi-day pass users to ensure that the pass is used by the same person from day to day. ... Human eye cross-sectional view. ... Recognition of acquaintances From nearby, a human individual is mainly recognized by his or her face. ...


Bayes' theorem

The probability that an observed negative result is a false negative versus a true negative may be calculated (and the problem of false negatives demonstrated) using Bayes' theorem. The key concept of Bayes' theorem is that the true rates of false positives and false negatives are not a function of the accuracy of the test alone, but also the actual rate within the population. Often, the more powerful issue is the actual rates of the condition within the sample being tested. Bayes theorem is a result in probability theory, which relates the conditional and marginal probability distributions of random variables. ... A false positive, also called false alarm, exists when a test reports, incorrectly, that it has found a signal where none exists in reality. ...


Spam filtering

The term false negative is also used when spam email is not detected as such but rather classified as non-spam email. A low number of false negatives is an indicator of the efficiency of spam filtering methods. View of a modern spam email, containing an advertising image. ... A mail filter is a piece of software which takes an input of an email message. ...


See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
How common is a false negative pregnancy test and what causes it? (726 words)
A false negative result is when the test says you are not pregnant but you are.
One reason for a false negative pregnancy test could be that you took the test too early.
A negative result can mean that you are not pregnant, you took the test too early or you took the test wrong.
Strategies to Reduce False Positives and False Negatives in NIDS (1926 words)
The term false positive is a broad and somewhat vague term that describes a situation in which an NIDS device trigger an alarm in a when there is malicious activity or attack occurring.
False alarm is the better term to describe this behavior since "false positive" gives the impression that IDS technology itself is fundamentally flawed and benign trigger gives the impression that there is no possibility for a true false positive to exist.
False negative is the term used to describe a network intrusion device's inability to detect true security events under certain circumstances.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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